Present day irrealist writers cluster in what is called the Bizarro movement, a compendium of offbeat, underground, alternative writers who have banded together to promote their work. The Bizarro concept encompasses many different types of avant-garde writing, of which irrealism is one. Other genres, or sub-genres, represented under the Bizarro moniker are Avant Punk, New Absurdism, Subterficial Fiction, Dada Street Life, Blender Fiction, Brutality Chronic, Tweeker Lit and Dark Hysteria.

Most of those terms will be foreign to the average (and not-so-average) speculative fiction lover. Without doubt they represent part of the Long Tail of publishing and have had minimal impact on the mainstream literary scene to date. The signs are, however, that this may be changing. Perhaps the best place to get a sense of what the movement has to offer is to visit its online hub, Bizarro Central, at www.bizarrocentral.com . Or you could hunt down The Bizarro Starter Kit (there are two volumes: Orange and Blue) which contain seminal stories and novellas by leading Bizarro authors.

One such author is D Harlan Wilson, described at Bizarro Central as a writer of hard-boiled psychedelia. He is the editor-in-chief of The Dream People, a journal of Bizarro literature. He describes himself as an irrealist writer. (For an example of Wilson's earlier work check out our fiction page and scroll down for his name.)

His latest novel is called Blankety Blank, a novel where the author's irreal gaze is turned towards suburbia. The novel masquerades as memoir, playing with the ways personal experience produces (and falsifies) identity. Interspersed throughout the novel are brief pseudo-histories about random events, ranging from the origins of Jack the Ripper to the evolution of the handlebar moustache. The world of Blankety Blanks exists somewhere between utopia and dystopia.

Wilson says his '… irrealities focus on postmodern cultural (mal)formations — e.g. schizophrenia, ultraviolence, mediatised bodies, technocapitalism, etc.- and I often use fractal, broken, machinic vernaculars to write them. At the same time, the core of my irrealities are always concerned with the absurdity of the human condition and the anxieties and tribulations of daily life. So the irreal is connected to existentialism.'

Maybe we are more familiar with this perspective when it is called parody or satire. Wilson agrees. 'It can be. My novels Dr. Identity and Blankety Blank are egregiously satirical and parodic. Other authors are more subtle. I think it's difficult to find an irreal text that isn't satirical or parodic on some level. Irrealism writes against realism, so naturally irrealism must comment on and critique realism, if only peripherally. All doppelgängers haunt and harangue their host bodies.'

But it is more than just parody and satire. Irrealism tries to represent the unrepresentable and seems to want to rewrite narrative traditions. Indeed, the whole Bizarro movement belies the need for conventional form or literary rules. Instead it strives for a mixture of trash and art, an alchemical fusion of pulp and literature. It can be confusing at times, perhaps even absurd in the worst sense of the word, but it always tries to entertain. It is that weird cult movie you saw once, that off-beat music you've heard occasionally — Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, perhaps. It is speculative fiction at the fringes.

Such an iconoclastic endeavour meets with extreme responses. 'I get all kinds,' says Wilson. 'They mainly fall into four categories: love your work, don't get your work but like it, don't get your work and don't like it, hate your work and hate you.'

That covers the whole spectrum. Let's face it, that is only to be expected from ground-breaking narratives. The conservative nature of the world resists all sorts of innovation, and readers, especially genre readers, are more interested in story than technique.

How close is it to speculative fiction though?

It's interesting to note that Blankety Blank was launched at the Horrorfind weekend in the US and the author was to be a guest at Zombiefest. So it would seem that the Bizarro movement is in some kind of relationship with the horror genre. Yes, some kind of relationship, but not direct kin, according to Wilson. 'Bizarro and genre horror are different animals, although they exhibit similar dark qualities.'

He goes on to tell me that the difference is in the narrative formula. Readers and editors of horror demand a more rigid structure and prefer their horrific events to take place in realistic settings. Bizarro writing, though, is more experimental and innovative in terms of content, style, characterisation, setting, theme, etc. 'In my writing, for instance, I don't just try to push the boundaries of reality. I try to subvert and transcend reality.'

Much of what is said about Bizarro writing echoes the claims of literary criticism — that writing is more about technique than the stories they describe. However, it's strong desire to entertain connects it with genre writing, and even though it may crave strangeness and strive to be thought-provoking, it always wants to have fun. In this sense it shares common terrain with speculative fiction.

Wilson says he's ' … often categorised as a horror writer, but I'm just as often categorised as an author of science fiction, fantasy, postmodernism and literary fiction.'

It's an interesting possibility in the development for speculative fiction writing that might be worth keeping an eye on — at least for those of us who want more from their writing than traditional fare. There doesn't appear to be a Bizarro chapter in Australia, or a burgeoning irrealist movement. Wilson has no plans to visit Australia. 'I've wanted to come for many years. Maybe when my daughter gets a few years older and can better appreciate world travelling, our family will make the trip.'

As for getting hold of his book, at this stage the only way to order his books are through Amazon. 'I know shipping to and from Australia sucks in terms of postage, hopefully that'll change someday when the continents reform into Pangaea II.'

For now we all have to keep in touch virtually. Visit him at www.dharlanwilson.com and www.myspace.com/dharlanwilson .